9. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
H ours later, Mav sat in a meeting with other court officials, not listening even a little bit to some old Master of Coin droning on about the city budget.
Her thoughts darted erratically from her jewel thief problem to the incredible night she’d had, which now felt rather more like a dream than reality.
She knew her time to solve the issue of the jewel thief was running out.
Only so much grace would be extended to her, and she was determined not to lose her position over something so ridiculous.
The nobles that had caused such a fuss with the king weren’t truly suffering over their losses, they were just upset that some unknown thief was making fools of the lot of them.
There were many actual problems in Zhava City that deserved their attention, but feeding the poor was less glamorous.
The jewel thief would strike again, but there were so many wealthy families in Zhava City, it was impossible to predict where they would turn up next.
Mav considered the patterns she had noticed: the thief disabled and injured—but never killed—guards; they only robbed the wealthiest noble families; they were somehow flirting with her by way of evidence left at the crime scene, so they must have known they were being hunted…
Not much to go on, but Mav decided the pattern of targets was the best lead.
The thief was obviously working alone—unobtrusive points of entry and the speed with which the thief was able to plan and execute break-ins made that clear—so rather than taking all of the City Guard forces to one possible target, Mav would split them up.
A trained city guard could almost certainly apprehend this thief if they could catch up with them.
As soon as Mav was free of this old man’s eternal ramblings, she would draw up her plan.
Two guards each to as many noble estates as they could cover, starting with the wealthiest nobles that hadn’t been robbed yet.
She would take one estate on her own; her venomous tail could have the thief downed in no time.
The trick would be to get the guards into each house in a way that the thief saw without being too obvious; this would ensure they ended up at the estate Mav would be hiding in.
It was clear they did careful reconnaissance on the estates before the break-ins—they seemed to disable the guards with clinical precision and always entered and exited with ease—so Mav knew they had to be smart about this.
She could only hope that her trap would be successful.
All day as Mav worked with her guards to set her plan in motion, flashes of the previous night flitted through her mind.
She had felt so powerless for once, so completely at the mercy of someone else; it had been a taste of a freedom she had never known.
She hoped she would see Colette again soon—maybe after she had caught the thief.